Android Wear Beta now available for LG Watch Sport

Google have publicly tested new updates to their software for a while and today they are continuing this with their Android Wear flagship, the LG Watch Sport.

The beta update of Android Wear for the LG Watch Sport is available through the usual beta channel. The update is a technical update for API 26 (equivalent to Android 8.0 but not called Oreo in the blog interestingly) and brings enhancements to background limits and notification channels.

For the notification channels users can now choose the types of notifications they receive from each individual app through notification channels. This fine control is something that has definitely been required in Android Wear 2.0.

The background limits brings exactly that. It increases the restrictions on background services and as such developers should now assume that their services can no longer run in the background without a visible notification (anyone else hate these persistent background notifications?). This should result in an increase in battery life for your device.

Those who are lucky enough to own an LG Watch Sport and want to partake in the beta program for it can head on over to the beta webpage and sign up. This will apparently be the only beta for the LG Watch Sport suggesting that a final release is imminent, hopefully for quite a few watches and not just the LG Watch Sport which has never been officially available here.

Scott Plowman Ausdroid's Deputy Editor in Chief

Scott is our modding guru - he has his finger on the pulse of all things ‘moddable’, pointing us towards all the cutting edge mods hacks that are available. When he’s not gymming it up, or scanning the heck out of Nexus devices, you'll find him on the Ausdroid Podcast.

Outside of Ausdroid, Scott's a health care professional and lecturer at a well known Victorian university.